Goodbye, My Friend
by Akatsuki Seal
Summary: Sasuke believes his eyes deceive him when he sees the body lying prone on the ground before him. It couldn't be true, could it? Haunting blue eyes stared listlessly at the ceiling. - Sasuke-centric. Character Death. A 'what-if' scenario involving the Akatsuki and their plans and treatment of the Jinchuriki post extraction.


**Trying something. Take a look. It's not canon, but it's sort of a 'what if' scenario, based on the storyline of Shippuden, following the 'successful' capture of the Hachibi. How would Sasuke have felt if a certain someone else was killed?  
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'_This all feels like a sick dream… a hallucination…'_

Sasuke stared down at the corpse of the boy sprawled out on its back before him. He didn't know how to react, other than to just _look _at it.

Emotions flew through him rapidly, yet his face was blank as he couldn't decide which to feel first. What? How did this happen? When did it come to this? All these questions remained unanswered as he just stared. A strange kind of pain twinged somewhere in his chest, slowly growing. He was so confused, yet so angry. In despair, but relieved. Guilty, but free. Surprised, but he had expected this somewhat. More emotions clouded his mind and conflicted his thoughts.

'_I thought I wanted him gone… but I guess I was just weak…'_

Tobi stood nearby, feet spread, arms crossed over his black and red cloak, seeming almost smug behind that eyesore of a mask; arrogance seeping out of every clothed pore. The masked man said that he'd captured the former owner of the body, and his business was finished with it. They'd taken what they needed from him, stripping him of his life and everything he was, and were planning to just throw the body away, like it was no more than a broken toy. The silence surrounding the body was a strange occurrence, and that lack of sound permeated through the cold and confined atmosphere. The silence was so thick, it surprised even Sasuke when it was broken by a noise ripped from his throat.

"_Why?" _It sounded almost guttural; like a knife dragging through gravel. Tobi merely tilted his head in question, not understanding the question asked.

Sasuke felt his fingers clenching into tight fists, nails digging half crescents into the heels of his palms, and his jaw tighten. His eyes bore the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan as he _glared _at Tobi. Hell would not have enough fire for how much would have been spread upon the former Akatsuki member by the mere look in the young Uchiha's eyes.

"Why _him?" _He ground out through grit teeth. His eyes returned to the body. Its skin was strangely pale, a stark difference to the usual healthy vibrancy it once held. It made him want to reach out and touch it, just to validate that it was actually there. That face he'd seen so many times, but with a different expression. The eyes were still open, slightly, staring listlessly at the ceiling. Those once deep oceanic eyes. Those once clear blue skies. The eyes that watched him with such intensity, such drive, even they lacked their usual lustre; instead they were blank, dilated with death. Why was it always death that was the only thing that he had in common with any person he'd met?

'_He wasn't like other people… he was like me… known only loneliness and suffering…'_

"Surely, you knew what he was. That one is here because it was essential. The final piece in this game. " The deep voice of the masked Akatsuki member echoed though the room, bouncing off the stone walls and repeating itself in Sasuke's head.

"'That one'?" He hissed, enraged, "He's not a thing, he's a person! He has a name!" Tobi laughed before he'd even finished speaking, a chilling sound that rattled Sasuke to the core.  
"Not anymore." The red Sharingan shone out of the eyehole, "He's just another victim of war, now." Sasuke's eyes widened. He noticed the red. All that red.

He hadn't noticed all the blood until now. The face was covered in splotches of the red substance, it was splashed all over his ruined clothes, an all-too-familiar colour for Sasuke's liking. The body's left cheek was coloured purple, with a cut that dripped blood down to his chin. A gash on his forehead, hidden by the soft spikes of now red-stained pale blond hair, spilled blood down the bridge of his nose and into one eye, which then ran down over the familiar markings on his cheek. Blood had dribbled out of the man's mouth at some point, because his bottom lip and chin were lined with streaks of dried blood, running down his neck. It seemed, though, that he had died or had fallen back not long after he'd been so badly injured, because the gravity of a large portion of the blood ran towards the back of his head. His hands were scuffed and palms split, evidence of what seemed like the force of something heavy pressing against a kunai held in the palm. He couldn't see any more skin, but he could tell that beneath the black and orange clothing was much grander battle story.

'_I knew he always healed so quickly… but for him to have such grievous wounds that weren't closing up… he was gone…'_

Sasuke resigned himself to bitter resentment with an angry exhale, before walking over to the body. He kneeled beside it, hesitant to touch the cold skin, but quick to observe the wound patterns littered throughout the body. Many of them looked intensely painful, and Sasuke couldn't help but imagine the pain-stricken face while it was still struggling to survive. The anger and desperation written into every line. Due to the nature of this situation, Sasuke was expecting him to jump up and yell 'got ya!' or some other stupid response. But he hadn't seen a single breath, neither a rise nor a fall of the chest throughout the entire time he'd been standing, gazing at the body.

"Did he suffer?"

He didn't know why he'd asked that question, but he couldn't take it back. He was curious. He redirected his gaze towards the new object of his ire. Tobi unfolded his arms and lifted them into a nonchalant shrug.

"I didn't know you still cared. But I can't say that he didn't. From what I've understood with the others, extraction is insanely painful." He'd placed his left hand on his hip, dropping his right, "Having a chakra entity as big as this one's demon forcefully pulled out of you would probably feel as though someone is trying to slowly pull several kunai sideways up your throat at once after shoving them down one by one." Sasuke supressed a shudder at the thought. He couldn't imagine how horrifyingly painful that must have been for this man. Sasuke had seen only a small part of an extraction from the previous person, and he'd noticed that the subject was bound so tightly in the giant ball of chakra, they couldn't even scream.

'_He went through so much suffering in life because of what he was… and he suffered in his last days even more…'_

"He had the most chakra to remove, so it took longer. He was alive in the jutsu for about five days, held captive for about two. He put up quite a fight."

Sasuke breathed a remorseful sigh out of his nose, hunching over slightly and clenching his eyes shut, but unable to _not _see what was in front of him. He didn't know why he felt so bad about this. This was what he wanted; that damn unbreakable bond severed. He'd gotten his wish, his goal achieved – nothing tied him down any longer. So why did he feel so bitter about this? So damn sad?

He opened his eyes once more and all he could see were those dead blues staring straight back, one surrounded with red. They were once so beautiful. Sasuke wasn't gay, but he knew that such beautiful blue eyes were the rarest to come across. He'd always admired them, and likened them to clear blue skies. And now the life behind them was snuffed out. There was no obnoxious glare, no playful glance, no challenging stare, no masked sadness, no happy crinkle around the eyes, nor was there any evidence of his fox-like grin. Nothing.

There was only death.

'_I always thought of him as annoying… mischievous and bratty… but then I got to know him…'_

He reached forward and closed the eyes with shaking fingers, disregarding the blood now staining his hands. For a single moment, he regretted running away, regretted leaving everything behind, regretted being indirectly responsible for this person's death. He'd already bathed his hands in the blood of his beloved older brother, and now he'd helped the man behind him kill the only person he'd ever even considered a friend. He was alone. He had nothing.

"Sasuke, we have to move on. I'll reanimate the soul later with Edo Tensei and the Six Paths technique; I've already got the DNA sample I need for it. The body can just stay here. It's a useless shell now." Those heartless words sparked a sharp spike of rage within the last Uchiha. Sharingan whirling, he turned and glared at Tobi, electricity sparking around his fingers. Tobi was almost startled by the ferocity within those eyes.

"_How dare you?!" _Sasuke's eyes were brimming with hatred for the mysterious man before him, "You plan to leave him here? _Like this? _Bloodied and broken, lying on the floor of some godforsaken _cave?!" _ Tobi merely shrugged his shoulders and nodded.  
"We don't need the boy's body anymore. We've gotten what we needed from it. All nine tailed beasts are ours now." He turned his back, "I suggest you come along, we have a war to win."

'_I couldn't bring myself to see him as a beast… what was inside of him… it wasn't him… he was my rival… my friend…'_

Sasuke, in shock, felt something trickle down his cheek, but wiped it away quickly before his companion could see it, chalking it down to sweat, and reset his gaze to the body before him. He argued with himself for a moment, before he reached forward and began to wipe the blood away from the cold face with a ragged piece of cloth laying nearby.

When the blood was for the most part gone, Sasuke bent down and slid one arm beneath the body's shoulders, while the other replaced the black sleeved arms over their orange coated stomach before reaching under the boy's knees. Tobi heard shuffling and turned once more, observing the young Uchiha. With ease, Sasuke lifted the dead weight into his arms, noticing how light it was. The lifeless head of spiky blond hair fell against his shoulder, and he almost cringed. He'd never held his friend like this, and he'd never thought it would be under these circumstances.

'_He would have looked good, his face carved up there on the mountain of his home…'_

"What are you doing?" The deep timbre of the Akatsuki member frustrated Sasuke to no end. Sasuke huffed, glaring at Tobi as he turned and stormed past the taller man.

"He can't stay here." Tobi tilted his head, a clear sign of confusion and frustration on his end. The young Uchiha continued walking towards the exit, the burden on his soul would have been heavier had he left his friend in this desolate place to rot. The boy at least deserves something better.

"Where are you taking him, Sasuke?" Tobi strutted slowly behind his charge, "It's not like he can help you anymore. He's long dead."  
"Tch. I know that!" Sasuke hissed, "But he doesn't deserve to be forgotten here. I may have been his enemy, but I knew him a great deal more than anyone else. I'm taking him elsewhere." This amused Tobi somewhat. Where is this sudden chivalry coming from? Before he could ask, however, Sasuke beat him to the punch.

"I'm going to find and return him to his comrades. He deserves a proper burial. He's worked hard enough, sacrificed enough for those he cares about. He deserves to go home." These words were so foreign, so alien on Sasuke's tongue, but he knew they were the right ones to say. He didn't care what Tobi said. The boy in his arms would have given him the same respect in his final days, so he was just repaying him.

'_He always treated me with such… grudging respect… I could only repay that favour…'_

They'd reached outside just as Tobi sighed gustily, dropping and shaking his head. He kept his visible eye on the Uchiha and studied him. His resolve was true enough. He wouldn't rejoin with the village, just return something.

"Very well, if you're so adamant. I'm sure you'll be able to get out of there alive." The masked man stopped in his tracks, causing Sasuke to pause and look over his shoulder. "Just don't get attached."

Sasuke snorted, "Whatever."

'_All I wanted was power… I didn't see what he went through for me…'_

With a hidden glare, Tobi teleported away in a vacuum of swirls and distorted space. Sasuke sighed and continued walking. He looked down at his burden and studied it for a moment. The vibrant blond hair, tanned and oddly scarred face, those endless bright blues and that large smiling mouth are no more. Now, in their place are dull yellow strands that were clumped together in spots with blood, ashen skin, faded blue hidden behind closed lids and a frowning mouth that was slightly parted. There was nothing familiar about this person anymore. Sasuke felt a deep seeded grief at the loss, regretting what he had said in the Land of Iron. They were supposed to die together, one killing the other at the same time, so he wouldn't have to see this.

Sasuke tore his gaze away and picked up the pace. It was still an hour's run before the nearest Allied Shinobi medical camp. Who knew, perhaps Sakura was there? If she was, what would she say when she found the cheerful one like this? She would be upset, definitely. Knowing her, she'd go on a rampage. Like _he _would have.

Again, he found his eyes drawn back to the lifeless one in his arms. That trickle that was present on his cheek before had returned, a small tickle that travelled from his suddenly watery eyes to his chin. Was he crying?

One large drop fell onto the corpse's face, travelling down its own cheek, making it seem as though it was joining in on his sudden sadness. Sasuke shook his head and returned his eyes upward to focus on the trek.

'_I'm so sorry…. Naruto._'

**Done. Written in 2 hours.**

**Morbid, sad, melancholy… I was listening to the Naruto sad song soundtrack and watching Sasuke and gang beat up Killer Bee and thought 'I wonder what would happen if Naruto HAD been taken… how would Sasuke react to that? **


End file.
